


Lost

by byzantine_era



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-25
Updated: 2011-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byzantine_era/pseuds/byzantine_era
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Emotional transference is a side-effect of the mind-meld."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost

Jim is dreaming.  
He’s lying on the couch in the office that used to be Puri’s, back to the room and face buried in a cushion partly because medbay is full and he doesn’t want to take a much needed bed, and partly because it would be terrible for morale for both captains to be down and out. So he lies, still and quiet in the dim light of the office that now belongs to Bones, and he dreams.

 _“emotional transference is a side-effect of the mind-meld.”_

He’s walking along a frozen, dull landscape. Leafless tree trunks stretch their bare branches up towards the leaden sky, an effective, if eerie backdrop. He’s alone, and the silence is so profound that nothing, not even the crunch of his boots against the ice can break it. There are no bodies here, but he thinks they’re there all the same: dead and gone.  
This is the total of his mistakes.

Directionless, rudderless, he wanders across the ice until below his feet, he can see a vague outline that stretches out into the distance. Jim traces it with his eyes, but it’s vast and his mind can’t comprehend it. So he follows the outline, walks along it with arms outstretched like a drunkard – until a familiar shape catches his eye.  
It’s a starship.

 _“emotional transference is a side-effect of the mind-meld.”_

Jim drops to his knees and starts to scrape away at the ice, oblivious to the way the sharp edges cut at his gloveless hands. Slowly, the pale surface is tinged pink, and then a deeper red, stains spreading as he digs. The ship isn’t deep, despite the fact that it’s completely enclosed and before long, he’s unearthed a large portion of the hull. The letters “NCC-1701” stand out in sharp relief against the dull metal, and Jim vainly presses his palms against the words. Any warmth the _Enterprise_ may have held is long gone.  
Jim doesn’t know how much time passes.

He finds that his mind is completely unable to process the losses: Bones, his crew, his friends, Vulcan – all gone, dead and buried beneath the ice and snow like all the life on this godforsaken planet that he’s stranded on. When he finally manages to lift his head and push himself to his feet, the clouds have rolled away, revealing the night sky.

There are no stars, no light from the distant planets that used to comfort him as a child.

Instead, the long, wickedly curved arms of the _Narada_ take up the space where Earth – and everything else – used to be.

(and they are gone, and he’s too late and everything that he’s ever loved and wanted and needed and fought for is lost and he’s alone always and forever alone)

 _“emotional transference is a side-effect of the mind-meld.”_

When Leo comes in two hours later to wake Jim up, there are tears frozen on his cheeks, and his skin is icy, deathly cold.

 

~fin


End file.
